Talisman

Tucked into a pocket of my purse is a small symbol of hope and expectation. It's round and shiny.

And optimistically engraved with my address, phone number, and the name of my dog.

He's not officially mine yet. But we're basically down to the details of meeting and payment. I found him at a rescue one state over by searching on the internet (of course).

A few weeks ago, Scooter suddenly changed his mind. Instead of telling me "no dog, no way," he decided he likes dogs after all. ("But no cat," he emphatically declared to me one day.) He has maintained this stance ever since, even as I gave him more space and slowly filled out the application.

The dog's tag will go on an orange collar, per Scooter's request. He will sleep on the dog bed in my work area and greet Scooter each morning after they've both enjoyed a good night's sleep. Scooter is quite insistent on this scenario.

And the shiny tag makes me that much more inclined to agree.